pkulak said:
What's wrong with just taking a day and walking into three dealerships? Just tell them you're taking three bids today and you're going to buy the lowest. They are all so used to getting 100 emails a day from people who never bother to show up, or even reply, that they don't take it seriously.
I'll repeat this as I do every few months. Never *go* to a dealer to negotiate a price. Only once in a blue moon will you get a good price that way. Dealers are experts at negotiation - it's what they do all day long. They know that when you are in their showroom you aren't anywhere else, you've already made a time commitment, and you'd love to just close the deal and drive off. Therefore you've already given away 90% of your negotiating leverage.
First figure out in advance exactly what you want. Trim level, options, model year, etc. If you have flexibility on color or specific options figure out a way to explain that in one or two sentences.
Then compose an email and send it to the internet sales department of every Nissan dealer within 200 miles. If you are in a low population density area with few dealers widen the range of your search (the LEAF can be shipped via truck for less money than you will likely save using this method). Tell them that you are ready to close the deal now and give them both your phone and email. The reason for the latter is that some dealers will respond better with email, some with phone, and you want to maximize the number of bids you get.
The next steps depend upon the kinds of responses you get. Market conditions are always changing. Sometimes a vehicle is in low supply so you get a bunch of bids at or over MSRP. At the other extreme the manufacturer may have huge incentives on the car so dealers are bidding low just to get them off of the lot. Different dealers are dealing with different market conditions at different times. For example, Dealer A may have been told that they have to sell 3 LEAFs by end of month or have their Titan supply cut by 1/3. If you catch that dealer with only 2 LEAFs sold and the last day of the month you may get a great offer- but if in the middle of negotiation someone else buys a LEAF from him he'll suddenly stop moving on price and may even withdraw the offer. Because dealer situations vary the ONLY way you can get a sense of market conditions is to get bids from lots of local dealers. Note: while not a hard-and-fast rule the more desperate dealers will tend to use phone - especially if they really believe you'll close the deal NOW.
As you get bids you can tell dealers "well, the best I have now is below yours at $XXXX". Some dealers will just drop out at that point - they aren't desperate to sell and don't want a bidding war. Others may offer to match or beat the price.
When you get an agreement verbally you are not done. First, ask them to send you a scanned copy of the purchase/lease contract. If you don't have this you are likely going to have them try to add dealer packs for extra money after you arrive. Then be prepared to walk if they change the terms after you are there.
If you have a trade-in you have unnecessarily complicated the deal and will make it much harder to get a good price. Understand that dealers, no matter what they say in mail advertisements, are not desperate for your trade-in and will only pay you wholesale for it. If you think they paid more then they made it back on the selling price of the car you bought/leased. Therefore, if you need to sell and you don't want to go through the time and effort to sell it yourself to a private party, go to a few places that offer to buy wholesale and sell it for the best price (I gather CarMax now does this). Although the best price you can get for a used car is via a sale to a private party the effort involved can be substantial - especially if you have to give test drives, accompany the car to a mechanic for evaluation, and go with the buyer to the DMV or the bank to sign the transfer paperwork. Sometimes selling wholesale is the smartest thing to do.
